PSYCHO-THERAPEUTICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 36

PSYCHO-THERAPEUTICS

By C. O.Out- neighbouTs afc Uhristchurch. have *rer shown a laudable desire to pluck out me Keart of a. mystery. TEey live in an atmosphere haunted by spooks, a Rationalist Association flourishes in their midst, and they have began the new year by 'holding the -first- conference of a registered organisation formed for the purpose of with the very knotty questions of suggestive therapeutics. They have framed rules, elected oifice-bearers, and enrolled members, jthe latter including a Dunedin practitioner in the /"healing art nnd a very highly esteemed parliamentary representative of local . interests. "We love better to believe than to examine," an old Elizabethan philosopher tells us, and, as a consequencer in all places and in, all times we blunder into absurdities that astonish or amuse' us when our mistakes are laid bare.,'' Looking at this recent movement from a progressive standpoint, the Association of Suggestive Therapeutics may be wished ' every > success in their undertaking. The new president {Mr D. Shaw) very properly,, urged that they (should , keep tiieir. ranks clean and their basic statement pore. He evidently sees that charlatanry . and inconsequential reasoning are the rocks on which inquiries such as- his association -has set out to investigate axe likely to be wrecked. It may be taken for granted that the basic principle- of their oelief will be that with faith or belief, plus suggestion," cures can be effected even In cases where . medical practitioners fail. . There, is a .duality 'of mind,' it is urged, each branch having distinct and functions— one objec- , tive and. the other subjective or subliminal. _ The latter is -very"ramenable to suggestion and controls the functions, conditions, and lensationa of -the body. The objective part of the mind rests in Bleep, but the jubliminal is most active during sleep, and can be brought into play by perse- ' verance and strengthened by frequent use, like the arms of an athlete or the legs' of a ballet dancer." This subje«tive half of the mind, it is believed, has most influence over 'the objective, naif the last ■ thing at night or the first thing in the . mormng-^that is to say, when the latter is less alert and most susceptive of suggestive influences. Such is the • cardinal principle that lies at the root of "all the psycho-therapeutic beliefe that are called by many names.* Faith-healers, metaphysicians, Eddyites, mental scientists, mesmerists, hypnotists, or what not, -all work on the same thesis. There is Scrip-ture--warrant for believing that "as a tnan thinketh in his heart so is he " ; but, like innumerable other texts, you can read into it, and them, anything that wisdom has discovered or stupidity conceived. "There is no need ' of argument to prove that, under certain conditions, the body, can be' largely, brought' under subjection .to the will, and at ..times in a, veTy extraordinarymanner. Such instances r are hoary with, age and are common to all countries. Jacob was well aware of the power of suggestion when he placed peeled Tods before the breeding ewes in Laban's flock. Job • lamented that *' the thing I have greatly feared •has come upon me," and nervous people are to-day • much more likely to fall victims to a ■prevailing epidemic,than the stout of heart. There can be no dispute as to the fact "that out of the thousands that flock to Lourdes every ' year gome are cured in consequence of mental effects working on receptive natures. It may- safely he -conjectured that those who were waiting for their ailments .to -be cured when the "waters were troubled " in the pool outside Jerusalem would " have derived as much 'benefit from ih% t&ill waters if they could have dipped fa th«m plus faith. The touch' of a king jaay liave had curative effects in certain *(«•s,■ and Canterbury pilgrims probably 'ierhred -benefit from kissing 'A'Becket*s *HaiV if suffering from ailments that sircng mental exaltation could reach. The same psychic phenomena are of not infrequent occurrence to-day. The curiosities of medical literature tell of bread pills producing the desired effect in cases where prescribed by -the physician in whom the yatient had unbounded confidence. The injection of water instead of morphia has been • known to deaden pain where the V>atient was fully convinced that it was the narcotic emanating from the doctor's Oyringe. A lady resident in England was <>o strongly convinced of the healing .virtues in the water of Lourdes that her "Jiiedical attendant agreed to get her some. Jte drew a supply from his surgery tap, 3 was taken tolus faith, and the benefit

' derived equalled the patient's expectations. Imagination has even worked greater marvels than these in several thoroughly well authenticated cases. Devout Catholics nave been known, by absorbing contemplation of Christ on the Cross, to produe© stigmata on their hands. Humbolt, ie a South America forest, found a solitary settler whose wife had died in childbirth. The father in his grief laid the new-born child upon his breast in despair, and Ms nervous suggestion brought about the activity 'of the mammary glands. The influence exercised by strong wills over weak wills and the potency of suggestion in certain directions is therefore no new discovery. The subject has. passed through several phases that have been more or less' enduring, but it is only within the last few years these have reGeived scientific consideration. It is to be regretted that the revival of interest in this -direction should have been accompanied with fraud and humbug. It has been demonstrated that hypnotism has no use in the treatment of any disease having an organic origin, and that as a means of deadening pain it is not comparable with the several anaesthetics in general use. Mental science, faith-healing, •and suggestive .therapeutics may be found ' to have a limited sphere of usefulness, but when we see such exhibitions as Dowie gave in his Richmond Tabernacle, near Rlelbourne, of walls hung round with sticks, crutches, and boots made for shortened legs that had been cast on one side- by those cured by prayer and faith, the rampant credulity of a large number of .people can but be regarded as distressing. Is there more sane teaching in Mrs Baker Eddy's bible? 'She ' would have her followers believe that there is no evil, no pain, no disease; that all is good and all' if God, and God is all. A silly woman riding in a Dunedin car recently had for a fellow-traveller a man with a shortened leg. The Eddyiteattracted notice by saying "Down leg! down leg!" and Capped her rudeness by telling the unfortunate there was .nothing the matter with his leg. -The retort, " There is a good deal the matter with your head," greatly amused the passengers in the car and put the position, truthfully; and yet such fond delusions are hugged by thousands who consider themselves in the forefront of intellectual .progress. A cheerful imagination is, without doubt, a precious gift, For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite The man that mocks at it and sets it light. But images of th*e mind have their limitations, and the banished Bolingbroke could not look .upon all places as "ports and happy havens-" at the bidding ,of John of Gaunt, but cried out : Oh, who can hold a. fire in his hand By thinking on the frosty Caucasus ? , Or cloy the hungry edge of appefat* By bare imagination of a feast? Or wallow naked "in December snow By thinking on fantastic summer's heat? The aim of all systems of therapeutics is to cure quickly, safely, and pleasantly; and if this can be done by suggestion than by drugs the new means of banishing the .ills that flesh is heir to will indeed be welcome. It is, however, a process that looks too delightful to be trne. The eminent French physician years ago, but subsequently abandoned the practice of it because he found "it did more harm than good, and merely added to the disorders of the alreadydisordered nervous system of those hoping to be relieved by its application. It is not likely^ that the 6tudy of psychotherapeutics will make much progress •until the functions of the brain axe better understood than at present.